Southampton City Council is planning a crackdown on unpaid parking fines in a bid to help bridge its financial gap.

The city council needs to find £20m by October to avoid potential Government intervention over its finances.

One of the ways it is hoping to find the money is by getting tougher over the collection of unpaid parking fines.

As reported by the Echo, some £1.5m in unpaid fines - around 20,000 tickets - were left outstanding last year.

Councillor Simon Letts, the cabinet member for finance, spoke to the full council on Wednesday about the plans.

He said: “I was disturbed to discover a number of examples of where we are  not collecting the money that is owed to the council.

“Absolutely if someone owes us money we should collect it – and we should use every available tool in the box to ensure that every penny owed to this authority is to be collected.

“I would put the significant number of unpaid parking fines in that category so if people get a  fine and they dont appeal it, they need to pay it. Simple as that.”

READ MORE: 20,000 parking fines issued in 2022 still unpaid

Most parking fines in Southampton, for offences such as parking on double yellow lines or overstaying your welcome in a council-run car park begin at £35. However this can go much higher. 

The current policy in Southampton as stated by the city council says: “If you do not pay a PCN (Parking Charge Notice) within 28 days, you will get a ‘charge certificate’ and will have 14 days to pay the original fine, plus 50% more.

“If you still do not pay, we will send you a ‘court order’ and the charge will be registered as a debt at the County Court.”

Details of the collection plans have not been revealed as yet.